Tricky Terrain Upgrade Guide

Quick verdict

Tricky Terrain is a lands deck that rewards knowing what each land type does. Omo, Queen of Vesuva puts everything counters on lands, which makes a single land count as a Gate, a Desert, a Locus and an Urza's Tower all at once, and the deck is full of cards that care about those types. The card draw and landfall payoffs are solid. What holds it back is a large number of lands that enter tapped, few ways to play extra lands, and thin protection. The upgrades below speed up the mana and give the deck a few ways to answer the table.

TurnZero HQ rates Tricky Terrain a 3 out of 5 on difficulty and a 3 out of 5 on power, as it comes in the box. That is our editorial read, not an official Wizards rating. The full hundred cards are on the Tricky Terrain decklist page, and every other precon we cover is on the precon directory.

How the precon plays

Omo, Queen of Vesuva is a three-mana 1/5. Whenever it enters or attacks, you put an everything counter on up to one target land and up to one target creature. A land with an everything counter is every land type, and a nonland creature with one is every creature type. That one counter turns on a surprising number of cards here: Urza's Tower taps for three once another land is also a Mine and a Power-Plant, Cloudpost counts it as a Locus, and Sage of the Maze counts it as a Gate.

Around that, the deck plays like a classic Simic landfall deck. Tatyova, Benthic Druid draws a card on each land drop, Dryad of the Ilysian Grove gives an extra land drop and makes your lands every basic type, Ramunap Excavator replays lands from the graveyard, and Avenger of Zendikar , Rampaging Baloths and Scute Swarm turn land drops into creatures.

The deck also hides a two-card combo. Thespian's Stage can become a copy of Dark Depths , and because the copy has no ice counters, it is sacrificed right away and you get Marit Lage, a 20/20 flying indestructible token.

What works out of the box

Omo, Queen of Vesuva ↗

Each time it enters or attacks, one land becomes every land type. Locus, Gate, Desert and Urza payoffs all read that counter.

Tatyova, Benthic Druid ↗

Draws a card and gains 1 life for every land you put down. In a deck built to play extra lands, it is the main card engine.

Dryad of the Ilysian Grove ↗

An extra land drop every turn, and your lands become every basic land type, so any land can pay for either color.

Avenger of Zendikar ↗

Makes a 0/1 Plant for every land you control, then grows them with each land drop after. It is the deck's strongest finisher.

Thespian's Stage ↗

Copies Dark Depths for a 20/20 flier, and copies any other land, including one with an everything counter, whenever you need a second copy.

What needs improvement

Far too many lands enter tapped. Some of them earn it, because a Gate, Desert or Cave is part of the theme, but Thornwood Falls , Temple of Mystery and Quandrix Campus have no land type the deck cares about. For a deck that wants to make multiple land drops a turn, tapped lands cost twice.

The deck has only a few ways to play an extra land, so the landfall payoffs often trigger once a turn. Interaction is light too: Arcane Denial , Beast Within and Pongify are the cheap answers, and nothing protects your board from a wipe.

Upgrade ideas

Each upgrade below starts from something the deck does poorly and says what a replacement card has to do. The cards named are examples, not the only answer: if you own something else that does the same job, or a newer printing does it better, it goes in the same slot. Make one change at a time and play a few games between them, so you can tell which change helped. The general method is in how to upgrade a Commander precon →

1. Replace tapped lands that have no type

A tapped Gate or Desert at least feeds a payoff. A tapped land with no type is only slow, and a lands deck feels each one.

What to look for Green-blue lands that usually enter untapped. A land with the Forest or Island type is a bonus, since check lands like the one below read those types.

Cut, for example

✕

Thornwood Falls Enters tapped, gains you 1 life, and has no land type for Omo's payoffs to use.

✕

Temple of Mystery Tapped with a scry 1. It does nothing the deck's other lands don't do better.

✕

Quandrix Campus Tapped, and its scry costs four mana. A slow land in a deck that wants to move quickly.

Add, for example

Breeding Pool ↗

A Forest Island that enters untapped for 2 life. It counts for every check land and landfall card.

Hinterland Harbor ↗

Green or blue, untapped as long as you control a Forest or an Island.

Fabled Passage ↗

Fetches a basic, which is two landfall triggers from one land drop. It untaps the basic once you have four lands.

2. Play more lands each turn

Tatyova, Avenger of Zendikar, Rampaging Baloths and Scute Swarm all pay off per land. Extra land drops multiply every one of them.

What to look for Cheap cards that let you play additional lands or put lands onto the battlefield outside your normal drop.

Cut, for example

✕

Rampant Frogantua A 3/3 trampler whose big bonus only arrives after a player has already lost. Its mill-for-lands trigger needs combat damage to work.

✕

Fog Bank A wall that stops one attacker. It buys a little time but doesn't advance the lands plan.

Add, for example

Exploration ↗

One mana for an extra land drop every turn. Cheap enough to cast with something else on turn two or three.

Oracle of Mul Daya ↗

An extra land drop, and you can play lands from the top of your library, so landfall keeps going when your hand is empty.

Burgeoning ↗

Whenever an opponent plays a land, you may put a land from your hand onto the battlefield. In a four-player game that can be three extra lands a round.

3. Protect the board and stop key spells

The deck invests a lot of mana in lands and big creatures, and it has little to stop a board wipe or a combo from an opponent. A few cheap answers make its long game safer.

What to look for Counterspells and protection costing two or three mana, plus removal that leaves you with a card.

Cut, for example

✕

Evacuation Five mana to return every creature to hand, yours included. It undoes your Plants and Beast tokens as well.

✕

Skullwinder Returns a card from your graveyard, but an opponent also gets one back. The deck already has Ramunap Excavator for recursion.

Add, for example

Counterspell ↗

Two mana, counters anything. A clean answer to a board wipe or a combo piece.

Heroic Intervention ↗

Two mana at instant speed: your permanents get hexproof and indestructible for the turn. Saves the board from most wipes.

Kenrith's Transformation ↗

Two mana, turns any creature into a vanilla 3/3 Elk and draws you a card.

4. Swap weak utility lands for channel lands

Trenchpost and Glimmerpost are Loci for Cloudpost, but on their own they do very little. Lands that double as spells give the deck interaction without costing a spell slot.

What to look for Lands that enter untapped and can be discarded or sacrificed for an effect, so they are useful early as mana and late as a spell.

Cut, for example

✕

Trenchpost Taps for colorless and can mill a player. The mill does nothing for a lands deck, and Omo already makes other lands into Loci.

✕

Glimmerpost Gains a little life when it enters and taps for colorless. Its effect is small, and a colorless land strains a two-color deck.

Add, for example

Boseiju, Who Endures ↗

Taps for green, or discards to destroy an artifact, enchantment or nonbasic land. Cheaper while Omo is out, since Omo is a legendary creature.

Otawara, Soaring City ↗

Taps for blue, or discards to bounce an artifact, creature, enchantment or planeswalker. It also gets cheaper with Omo out.

Win conditions

The deck has several ways to close. Avenger of Zendikar and Rampaging Baloths turn a few land drops into a large army, Hydroid Krasis and Hydra Broodmaster scale with all the mana the lands make, and the Thespian's Stage and Dark Depths combo makes a 20/20 flier out of two lands. The upgrades above get more lands down each turn so the army comes together sooner.

Who should buy this precon

A good match for a player who likes ramp and enjoys learning the rules corners of lands. The everything counter interacts with many nonbasic land types, so you need to know what Locus, Gate, Desert and the Urza lands do, which puts the deck at moderate difficulty. Its power is middle of the road, and it rewards patience more than speed.

Checked against the printed decklist on October 10, 2026.